George R.R. Martin Slams 'House of the Dragon' Creator & Gives Update on 'The Winds of Winter': "It's Abysmal"

In an extensive interview with The Hollywood Reporter, George R.R. Martin, the creator of the A Song of Ice and Fire universe, was brutally candid.

He shared painful details about his work on the long-awaited book The Winds of Winter and revealed a serious conflict behind the scenes of one of TV's biggest hits, House of the Dragon.

George R.R. Martin Says His Relationship With Ryan Condal Is "Abysmal"

Martin considered Ryan Condal, the showrunner of House of the Dragon, his partner while working on the first season. However, the situation has now changed dramatically. The writer openly stated that their relationship is in an "abysmal" state.

According to Martin, it all began with the second season when Condal stopped taking his edits and script notes into account.

Initially, the showrunner brushed off Martin's comments, promising to think about them. Eventually, however, he stopped responding altogether:

“Then we got into season two, and he basically stopped listening to me. I would give notes, and nothing would happen.

It got worse and worse, and I began to get more and more annoyed. Finally, it got to a point where I was told by HBO that I should submit all my notes to them and they would give Ryan our combined notes.”

Martin emphasized that he is sensitive to any deviations from the characters in the book because, in his opinion, this inevitably distorts the entire plot.

What Does George R.R. Martin Think of 'A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms'?

Despite the conflict with House of the Dragon, Martin is optimistic about another spinoff, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms.

Based on Martin's novellas about the knight Duncan and his squire Egg, this series is a project in which the writer's voice is truly heard. Martin serves not only as co-author and executive producer but also as an active participant in script development.

He was pleased with the result, and, judging by the reviews, so were the critics:

“It turned out very well, and I'm very happy with season one. The casting was a home run. [Showrunner Ira Parker] is terrific and seems to have the same priorities I do – he's trying to do something that's very true to the characters.”

The writer confirmed that projects, including animated ones, are being actively developed in the Game of Thrones universe.

He specifically mentioned a potential series about Jon Snow, an idea promoted by Kit Harington himself. The concept was to depict Jon as a deeply traumatized man living in exile and conclude his story with his death rather than his triumph.

George R.R. Martin Has No Plans to Stop Writing 'The Winds of Winter'

Regarding the main question – the fate of The Winds of Winter – Martin provided a detailed but not entirely encouraging report. He confirmed that he had written around 1,100 pages, yet the work is far from finished.

He said the main difficulty is the monstrously expanded narrative structure. After A Feast for Crows, which introduced numerous new characters and storylines, Martin had to balance the plots of more than two dozen protagonists, constantly switching between them:

“I will open the last chapter I was working on and I'll say, ‘Oh f*ck, this is not very good.’ And I'll go in and I'll rewrite it. [...] If I'm not interrupted though, what happens – at least in the past – is sooner or later, I do get into it.”

Meanwhile, Martin is adamant about finishing the saga himself. He has no backup plan, and he won't allow another author to finish the story. If he doesn't make it, the series will remain unfinished.

At the end of the interview, the writer recalled that the ending of his book series would differ significantly from that of Game of Thrones.